my mini dv camcorder has dirty heads, iv'e used a sony head cleaning tape but this does not clean the heads, on playback i get grey bands accross the picture, and no or intermittant audio.any one know of a better method to clean the heads. also were are the heads, are they built into the rotating drum, or fixed pillar type objects? when i try to record a panel comes in viewer and states heads need cleaning. by the way took to sony cervice centre, there advice" buy a new one" this and it's only had about 20 hrs use in 2 years, expensive at a cost of £300. THANK YOU SONY.
MODEL NO----DCR-HC35E, any advice out there please,
thANKS DAVE.
Did the Sony Service Center verify that this is a dirty head issue, or is it something else? Dirt seems unlikely with only 20 hours of use... unless you're using tapes covered with peanut butter.
I've never had much luck with dry, low impact cleaning cassettes. Others have, but they've never done a good enough job to me. Have you tried doing a manual scrubbing with swabs and a fluid video head cleaner (isopropyl alcohol or Freon TF based)?
hi matt,
tried cleaning manuually, but not sure what partS are the video heads, are they located on the rotary drum? rubbed most visable parts with fluid and swabs with no improvement, but don't know if i'm cleaning the accual heads, where are they located and what do they look like.
thanks
ps when recording camera displays a box stating--VIDEO HEAD NEEDS CLEANING, USE HEAD CLEANING TAPE
I can't find any photos of the camcorders internals, but I did find a how to guide that may be of some assistance to you: http://bealecorner.com/trv900/trouble/headclean.html
Give that a read and see if it helps.